Letter: Is this how you want your county managed?

Gloucester County taxpayers have allowed those who have been elected and hired to make decisions that have resulted in the waste of buildings, land and financial resources. Numerous individuals from the community have voiced concerns pertaining to many financial decisions made by the board of supervisors and the school board. Those individuals have voiced desires to have more community involvement in the decision making process.

Individuals have spoken at public meetings only to be ignored. Letters from individuals voicing concerns have been published in the press. Emails have been sent by individuals. As individuals we have been unable to accomplish very little. Now the new budget year approaches with a revelation of some disturbing information.

Our elected leaders spent over $750,000 to have county employee wages analyzed which resulted in significant wage increases. They are wasting huge amounts of money now and in the future by the way they are rebuilding a school and managing Gloucester’s public education system. They are spending money to redevelop the Court House area instead of correcting significant infrastructure deficiencies. The board of supervisors and the school board do not work together to accomplish the will of the residents. Both are ineffectively and inefficiently directed (not guided) by persons they hired to provide administrative guidance. There are a few board members between the two boards who seem to desire to do what is in the best interest of the people, but their objections are quashed by majority votes.

Now they have the gall to propose tax and utility service increases so they can waste more and give themselves significant pay increases. How can they possibly propose a real estate tax increase when they cannot provide accurate assessments of the property?

Is this how you want your county’s affairs managed? If not, then speak up and help do something to fix it.